Tag: Josh Aldridge

On3 predicts Demarcus Riddick will commit to Auburn

The five-star linebacker will make his final recruiting decision on Wednesday, and Auburn is the team to beat suggests one reporter.

Although committed to Georgia, five-star linebacker [autotag]Demarcus Riddick[/autotag] will make his final decision on Wednesday. Joining Georgia in the hunt are Alabama and Auburn.

Ahead of his “final decision”, On3’s Jeffrey Lee has submitted a prediction. He expects Riddick to stay close to home and choose Auburn. Lee says that Riddick has a 55% chance to choose the Tigers, which has given Auburn a boost in On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine. Heading into Wednesday, Auburn now has a 51.2% chance to flip Riddick from Georgia. The Bulldogs now have a 20.7% chance to keep Riddick, while Alabama has been given a 26.7% chance to flip him.

Lee says that the relationship that Riddick has developed with head coach [autotag]Hugh Freeze[/autotag] and linebackers coach [autotag]Josh Aldridge[/autotag] has made a difference in his recruitment.

“The two coaches have been heavily involved in recruiting Riddick. (Josh) Aldridge running the point with (Hugh) Freeze providing support. And Freeze has been more involved in Riddick’s recruitment than most head coaches. The No. 3 linebacker absolutely is a huge priority for Auburn, and Freeze and Aldridge have made sure he knows it.”

In a recent interview with Auburn Undercover, Riddick says that Georgia is starting to not feel like home anymore. He had positive things to say about Alabama, but he seems to be really interested in Auburn.

“Just everything,” Riddick said about Auburn. “I like the community, I like the family, I love everything. I love everything about the school.”

Riddick will announce his commitment on Wednesday at 4 p.m. CT.

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Twitter reacts to Auburn landing North Texas LB transfer Larry Nixon III

Auburn Twitter was fired up after the Tigers landed their second transfer of the day.

Auburn’s coaching staff has done a great job adding talent through the transfer portal and on Tuesday they added two more key pieces.

First was North Texas transfer wide receiver [autotag]Jyaire Shorter[/autotag] but the Tigers were not done taking players from the Mean Green and just hours later former linebacker [autotag]Larry Nixon III[/autotag] announced his commitment to Auburn.

Nixon III is coming off a career year, where he made 105 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and one sack in 14 games.

He is the fourth addition that linebackers coach [autotag]Josh Aldridge[/autotag] has made to his room this offseason, joining [autotag]Austin Keys[/autotag] (Ole Miss), [autotag]DeMario Tolan[/autotag] (LSU) and [autotag]Jalen McLeod[/autotag] (App State).

The move fired up the Auburn fanbase which took to Twitter to celebrate the addition of Nixon III, here are the best reactions.

Second Auburn linebacker to enter the transfer portal

Desmond Tisdol will have two years of eligibility at his next stop.

Auburn has lost a second veteran linebacker to the transfer portal. Junior [autotag]Desmond Tisdol[/autotag] announced his plans to enter the transfer portal Wednesday on his Instagram.

Earlier on Wednesday senior linebacker [autotag]Kameron Brown[/autotag] announced that he was going to enter the transfer portal.

Tisdol, a four-star recruit in the 2020 class, appeared in 24 games in his three seasons on the Plains. The Rochelle, Georgia native made 17 tackles.

He will have two years of eligibility at his next school.

The losses of Brown and Tisdol give Auburn seven scholarship linebackers for new position coach [autotag]Josh Aldridge[/autotag] to work with. They are the first two players to enter the transfer portal since the start of spring practice.

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Former Ole Miss LB Austin Keys commits to Auburn

Auburn is building one of the best transfer classes in the country.

Auburn is building one of the best transfer portal classes in the country and on Saturday it got even better with the addition of former Ole Miss linebacker [autotag]Austin Keys[/autotag].

Keys entered the transfer portal on Jan. 6 and quickly became a priority target. He took an official visit to the Plains this weekend and capped the visit off with a commitment.

The 6-foot-4, 245-pounder broke out in 2022 for the Rebels, making 39 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks, forcing a fumble, and recovering a fumble in 13 games. He redshirted the 2020 season and appeared in six games in 2021 before an injury ended his season.

The Collins, Mississippi, native will have two seasons of eligibility left and he projects to be a middle linebacker.

The Tigers are set to return a trio of veterans in Cam Riley, Wesley Steiner and Desmond Tisdol but none of them are proven playmakers.

Keys is the second transfer linebacker Auburn has landed this offseason, former LSU Tiger [autotag]DeMario Tolan[/autotag] announced he was coming to Auburn on Jan. 8. Tolan appeared in 12 games for LSU last season and made 10 tackles as a true freshman. These additions give new linebacker coach [autotag]Josh Aldridge[/autotag] two players who can make an impact for multiple seasons.

Auburn has now landed 12 players from the transfer portal as [autotag]Hugh Freeze[/autotag] works to flip Auburn’s roster ahead of his first season. Six of those additions have been along the front seven of the defense.

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Auburn working to get Maryland LB transfer Ahmad McCullough to visit

Ahmad McCullough is the productive veteran that Auburn is looking for to put in the middle of the defense.

Auburn is looking to land a linebacker from the transfer portal and former Maryland Terrapin [autotag]Ahmad McCullough[/autotag] has become one of the school’s top targets.

McCullough spoke with Nathan King of Auburn Undercover and said that Auburn linebackers coach [autotag]Josh Aldridge[/autotag] had reached out to him recently and that Auburn wanted him to take a visit to the Plains.

The 6-foot-2, 225-pound linebacker was a productive player for Maryland last season, making 45 tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss, 1.0 sack, and recovering two fumbles.

A Baltimore, Maryland native, he appeared in 33 games across five seasons for the Terrapins and his veteran presence would help mitigate the loss of team captain Owen Pappoe, who is headed to the NFL.

Auburn has already landed three players from the transfer portal, FIU tigh end Rivaldo Fairweather, Tulsa offensive tackle Dillon Wade, and Vanderbilt pass-rusher Elijah McAllister.

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New Auburn assistant up for defensive line coach of the year

One of Hugh Freeze’s new hires is among the best position coaches in the country.

[autotag]Hugh Freeze[/autotag] has hired one of the best assistant coaches in the country according to Football Scoop.

[autotag]Jeremy Garrett[/autotag], who recently followed Freeze to Auburn from Liberty to serve as defensive line coach, has been nominated by Football Scoop for defensive line coach of the year.

Liberty’s front unit was led by Kendy Charles and Durrell Johnson, who recorded 60 and 58 tackles respectively. Johnson led the Flames with nine sacks, and tackles for loss with 27.5. Johnson was also Liberty’s highest-graded defensive player according to Pro Football Focus with an 81.0.

Dennis Osagiede was also a key piece to Liberty’s defensive success. He was second on the team with six sacks, and 12.5 tackles for loss. As a team, Liberty made 109 tackles for loss, which ranks at the top of College Football, and recorded 45 sacks, which ranks No. 3 in the country.

Garrett is one of three former Liberty assistants that new head coach Hugh Freeze brought to the Plains, joining tight ends coach [autotag]Ben Aigamaua[/autotag] and linebackers coach [autotag]Josh Aldridge[/autotag]. Garrett will serve as the defensive line coach for defensive coordinator [autotag]Ron Roberts[/autotag].

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New hires to Hugh Freeze’s staff become official

Here’s a rundown of the hires that Hugh Freeze has made, and what their role will be within the staff.

Being a newly-hired head coach during this day and time has become challenging.

Not only do you have to construct a new staff, but you must do that while maintaining and improving your recruiting class before the beginning of the early signing period.

Auburn’s [autotag]Hugh Freeze[/autotag] has done a great job juggling both tasks. He recently signed the nation’s No. 19 recruiting class, which is a vast improvement from before his hire. He has also put together a respectable staff that is sure to go a long way in rebuilding the program to become one of the best in the SEC.

Freeze’s staff is headlined by [autotag]Philip Montgomery[/autotag], who will serve as offensive coordinator. Montgomery is best known for being the mastermind behind Baylor’s high-powered offenses during the early 2010s and for being the college offensive coordinator for quarterbacks Case Keenum and Robert Griffin III.

Other key hires are [autotag]Cadillac Williams[/autotag] and [autotag]Zac Etheridge[/autotag], who are retained from the previous staff. Williams served as interim head coach following the dismissal of [autotag]Bryan Harsin[/autotag], and led the Tigers to a 2-2 record to close out the season. Freeze says that one of his first priorities when landing the Auburn job was to keep Williams on staff.

“I had already done my homework on people that we had in common, friends, I knew that my first priority was “I have to have Cadillac on my side to help me drive the culture of Auburn Football,” Freeze said during his introductory press conference in November.

Williams will serve as the running backs coach and associate head coach. As for Etheridge, he will coach the secondary alongside [autotag]Wesley McGriff[/autotag], who comes to Auburn for his third stint. Those three have been vital in recruiting and will go a long way in building sustained success for the program.

Joining Etheridge and McGriff defensively will be [autotag]Ron Roberts[/autotag] as defensive coordinator, [autotag]Jeremy Garrett[/autotag] as the defensive line coach, and [autotag]Josh Aldridge[/autotag] will coach linebackers.

Freeze has also hired two offensive assistants in addition to Williams and Montgomery. Jake Thronton comes to Auburn from Ole Miss, where he will coach the offensive line. Freeze also brings tight ends coach Ben Aigamaua from Liberty to Auburn.

Two other names that have been linked to Auburn are [autotag]Dominic Studzinski[/autotag] and [autotag]Kent Austin[/autotag]. Freeze shares an update on their roles within the staff:

“Strength and conditioning Dominic Studzinski and Kent Austin is our chief quality control of the program that overseas if we say we’re gonna do something a certain way let’s do it that way,” Freeze said. “So I’m excited about our staff and we’ll be bringing in the rest of the off-the-field support staff along with the wide receiver coach at the beginning of the new year.”

The only position group that does not have a coach to this point is wide receivers, which Freeze says will be taken care of soon. Freeze blames recruiting for the lack of a receiver coach hire, but I think that we will let that slide.

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Tigers hire linebackers coach from Hugh Freeze’s Liberty staff

Aldridge served as Liberty’s interim HC after Freeze left at the end of the regular season.

It may be national signing day, but that doesn’t mean that Auburn is only adding players to the team.

Coach [autotag]Hugh Freeze[/autotag] is still putting together his staff on the Plains, and it looks as if he’s added one more member. Nathan King of 247Sports reported on Wednesday that the Tigers are adding coach Josh Aldridge as the team’s linebackers coach, who will come to Auburn from Freeze’s liberty staff.

Aldridge served as Liberty’s interim head coach for the Boca Raton Bowl when Freeze left for Auburn, overseeing a losing effort against Toledo 21-19. He served in a few different places, first coaching the defensive line from 2019-21 before serving as the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for the team during the fall season. While defensive coordinator duties

will fall to the newly-hired Ron Roberts, Aldridge will once again be by Freeze’s side in the linebackers coach position he’d been overseeing at Liberty in 2022.

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